Join the GOOGLE +Rubber Room Community

Friday, April 4, 2014

NYC Chancellor Carmen Farina Appoints 24 People To The New School Space Working Group


Carmen Farina


Chancellor's Parent Advisory Council

Deputy Mayor Buery And Chancellor Fariña Name 24 Education Leaders To School Space Working Group

April 15, 2014

NEW YORK—Deputy Mayor Richard Buery and Chancellor Carmen Fariña today named 24 education leaders and experts from across New York City to their school space working group. Hailing from public schools, charters, advocacy organizations, community councils, and the real estate sector, the 24 participants bring vast and diverse expertise in all facets of New York City public education and space planning to the table. The working group will be charged with recommending long-term solutions to alleviate overcrowding, foster positive outcomes in future co-locations, and develop partnerships that make the best use of all of the city’s space and resources for our schools.


The school space working group, led by Chancellor Fariña and Deputy Mayor Buery, will focus on the most acute space needs facing the school system. The working group will partner with district and charter school communities, as well as non-profits, to advise on new approaches to sharing space and tackling overcrowding in school buildings. The group will also focus on methods to further engage parents in the decision-making process and anticipate long-term space needs more fully, including the space needed for schools to have robust arts and physical education programs. Its participants will collaborate with and seek feedback from school leaders, parent groups, and elected officials—including education committees and leadership.


The space working group will be facilitated by the DOE’s Tom Taratko, executive director of the Office of Space Planning, and Michaela Daniel, senior policy advisor to the Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives, from City Hall. The group will complement the DOE’s previously established Blue Book working group, which will analyze the agency’s “Blue Book” for building utilization calculations. While the Blue Book group will redefine how the DOE calculates available space within a school, the space sharing group will work to qualitatively address challenges and surface best practices to guide future co-locations. Three members of the Blue Book group will also serve on the school space working group.


PARTICIPANTS IN THE SCHOOL SPACE WORKING GROUP

Sandra D’Avilar, Principal, P.S. 9

Joanne Mejias, Principal, Manhattan Charter School II

Roshone Ault, Principal, South Bronx Academy for Applied Media

Joseph Canale, Principal, CSI High School for International Studies

RoseAnn Darche, former Special Assistant for Education, Office of the Queens Borough President

Bob Hughes, President, New Visions for Public Schools

Richard Kahan, Founder & CEO, Urban Assembly

David Levin, Co-Founder, KIPP

Emary Aronson, Managing Director, Robin Hood Foundation

Michele Cahill, Vice President, National Programs, Carnegie Corporation of New York

Maggie Moroff, Special Education Policy Coordinator, Advocates for Children and Coordinator, ARISE Coalition

Gloria Corsino, President, District 75 Community Education Council

Miriam Aristy-Farer, President, District 6 Community Education Council

Alim Gafar, Co-Chair, Chancellor's Parent Advisory Committee

Isaac Carmignani, Co-President and Zoning Chair, District 30 Community
Education Council

Eric Greenleaf, member of Speaker Silver’s Overcrowding Taskforce and Professor
of Marketing at NYU’s Stern School of Business

David Umansky, CEO, Civic Builders

Adam Flatto, President, The Georgetown Company

Jonathan Gyurko, President, Leeds Global Partners and former official,

NYC Department of Education and United Federation of Teachers


Mike Mulgrew and Ellie Engler, center
Ellie Engler, Director of Staff, United Federation of Teachers

Burt Sacks, Deputy Chief Operating Officer, City University of New York

Zakiyah Ansari, Advocacy Director, Alliance for Quality Education

Maria Fernandez, Coordinator, Urban Youth Collaborative

Luis Garden Acosta, President, El Puente

pressoffice@cityhall.nyc.gov

(212) 788-2958